Which benefit do administrative applications provide when SAML SSO is configured for Cisco Unified Solutions?

SAML uses XML format for its assertions, not JSON. JSON is associated with OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect tokens.

SAML SSO authenticates users against a centralized external identity provider, not toward a single local Cisco Unified server.

User synchronization is handled by LDAP directory integration, not by SAML SSO, which is strictly an authentication delegation mechanism.

SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language) is an XML-based open standard designed to exchange authentication and authorization data between an identity provider and multiple service providers across different domains. In the Cisco Unified portfolio, configuring SAML SSO allows a user authenticated once against the IdP to access UCM, Unity Connection, IM and Presence, and other products without re-entering credentials, which is the definition of cross-domain and cross-product SSO.